


Stairway To Heaven

by graveman



Category: Red Dead Redemption (Video Games)
Genre: Death, Heaven, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-19
Updated: 2020-05-19
Packaged: 2021-03-02 22:47:47
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 990
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24264592
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/graveman/pseuds/graveman
Summary: Forgive my crap title *derp tongue face*
Relationships: John Marston/Arthur Morgan
Kudos: 19





	Stairway To Heaven

**Author's Note:**

> I started this sometime last year? Probably literally a year ago. I don't know man. I fell off the face of the earth for a loooooong time because hey, college life is ruff and I was just trying to survive emotionally, hah. But here's my attempt at getting back into things, I finished this. Perhaps not the best but I'm trying to revive my love of writing again until I get thrown into work and die inside, AGAIN.
> 
> I'm gonna try to work on my previous fanfics too, and posting new things for those two, as well as getting a new one up entirely that I started and never posted. but in the mean time...
> 
> HEEEEELLLLOOOO, IS THERE ANYONE ALIVE OUT THERE?!

"John... C'mon John." The voice called out, sounding all so familiar and yet, so indistinguishable at the same time. 

"N-no... C-c-can't..." Guttural words were the man's reply as blood accompanied them, spat out of his mouth. In a feeble attempt, John tried to reach out into the thin air above him with what ounce of life was left within him only for his bullet hole ridden body to give out on him. That hand fell cold next to him, eyes closing before it had fallen. 

"John... C'mon now, don't be late." There it was again, that same voice from before, only this time it welcomed John like a pair of warm open arms... John was drawn to that warmth, that light that seemed to radiate from the sound alone. 

"You've kept me waitin' long enough to see you again... Get yer ass up here, stop draggin' your feet." 

The closer John came to that voice, the more a silhouette of a person began to make itself visible. John paused in his steps to look around, only for the world that he had known to have disappeared around him. "Whoa!" John took a step back as he stared into a scene of white nothingness. Outstretched hands revealed that all the blood from before had completely disappeared. "What... Was that a dream? Is this a dream?" 

"Ain't no dream, John." 

A brow quirked as John's head turned to that figure again. "Do I know you?" He asked. 

"Do you know me?" The question came with a scoff laced with a chuckle. "Do YOU know ME... Now, is that anyway to treat a friend?" 

John shook his head. There was no pain and yet, there was confusion, lots of it to the point his head felt heavy. He made his way closer to the figure until shadows began to become details and he stopped in his stride again. "Ar-Arthur?" He asked in disbelief though a smile graced rugged features. "Nah, this has to be a dream!" He exclaimed as he  
practically ran to close the rest of the distance between them. 

Arthur was met with a tight embrace, throwing his arms around John in return. "I told ya, it's not a dream John..." His words trailed off when they parted however. "You're in heaven." 

That smile faded then. "No... No, I-I can't... What about Abigail, Jack?" John turned around then only to be met with a void again. "I can't die, not yet... I have to go back!" 

Arthur reached out for his hand just as John was about to walk off. "Where are you going? There's no reverse... It ain't your call." 

"But, Abigail... Jack... They'll..." 

"Be fine John... She always was a strong woman and you raised a good son... Been watchin' ya from time to time." 

John swallowed hard, jaws clenching as he struggled to fight back his tears. 

"You gotta let that go John, I can't bring you into these gates if you don't." 

Gates... John's gaze went ahead of them to a set of large gates that he had missed before, caught up in the chaos of everything. He looked down then to Arthur. For a moment, he just stared at the man before him. "...I done bad things Arthur... I couldn't... I couldn't let the past go. I-" 

"I know... Mistakes John, but not damnation. You have to let it go, all of it." 

John took a deep breath, looking down at what was beneath them, perplexed at how it seemed to be nothing and yet it was something that held them there, in this otherworldly place. "...Some time ago, we found Dutch and Micah... is... is Micah here?" He was almost afraid to ask, almost afraid to look up to meet Arthur's gaze. 

Arthur shook his head with a sarcastic chuckle to follow. "No. Men like Micah... Well, they got a different place for them." Arthur responded as he placed a hand on John's shoulder. "C'mon. It's time to go, if you're ready?" 

John looked up to Arthur, meeting his gaze and he gave a slight nod. "I guess... It ain't my call is it now?" 

"Well, you can go in, or you can stand out here and wander around until you figure things out." 

John thought about this for a moment and his smile returned upon his features. "I'd rather be in there, with you." He followed Arthur's lead towards the gates before them. "You don't have the cough anymore... You look a lot better, like your old self." 

"All that stuff, it don't exist here, John. Just like those bullet holes-" Arthur gave a pat to John's abdomen for empathize. "They're gone. You're pain free, sick free and when you get through those gates, worry free." 

John released a deep breath, giving a slight nod. He stopped just as the gates opened before them, hesitation lingering on his features but he turned to Arthur for assurance. "...The kind of people we are... The things we've done... Does that- do I really belong?" 

Arthur himself stopped at John's side and without any further description from the man, he knew exactly the last thing to plague John's mind. He took John's hand in his, giving a squeeze. "Down there, with the living, I always racked my brain about those things, but they're trivial. Rules created by man a long time ago, broken by hearts ever since. That stuff doesn't matter here. Everyone is welcome as long as they have faith." Arthur turned to him, pulling him into an embrace again, only this time he leaned in to place a kiss to John's lips. "Men can make mistakes, but these things ain't it..." He muttered when he pulled away. 

John swallowed hard and with that, it seemed whatever hesitation he had left disappeared. With Arthur's hand in his, the two left the outside void, gates closing behind them to reveal a whole nother world of eternal peace.


End file.
